Scuderi CARSTAR Auto Body

In the business world, the term “ownership” is sometimes used to describe a feeling of responsibility and recognition. A person who has “ownership” of a project or a business feels he or she can control his or her own destiny and that he or she will reap the benefits of those efforts. Ironically, Chip and Mark Scuderi, owners of Scuderi CARSTAR Auto Body in Rockville, Md., didn’t feel a lot of “ownership” of their business when they originally became owners back in the early 1980s. At that time, the business belonged to a total of five family members, including three older brothers. The business had come to them through their father Al Scuderi Sr., who started the company in 1954.

Everything changed in 1986 when the two youngest Scuderi brothers bought out their other brothers. After that, Chip Scuderi no longer felt as though he was playing with “Monopoly money.” Instead, says Chip, “It was our money.”

The attitude of the youngest Scuderi brothers toward the business changed dramatically. As Chip puts it, “We started rocking and rolling.” A symbol of the change in attitude was when the brothers threw out the shop’s refrigerator. “We used to sit around with our brothers for an hour and a half after lunch,” says Chip. The ditching of the fridge signaled a more aggressive approach to the business—and a willingness to work a lot harder.

“We just started getting more work in and out,” Chip says. “The quality of our work was good and people started to know Mark and me. The more work we did, the more referrals we got.” The brothers’ efforts certainly have paid off. In the 18 years since they took over, the shop’s monthly sales have grown from $10,000 or $20,000 to the $200,000 range. That’s quite an accomplishment in affluent and densely populated Montgomery County, a suburban area outside Washington, D.C., that is home to more than 100 collision repair shops.

Ask Chip about his success and he attributes it to “the values of hard work and honesty.” When he and his brothers were children, he says, “our dad grabbed our ankles and yanked us out of bed.” Scuderi CARSTAR Auto Body has some other assets as well, though. “Our location separates us,” Chip says. Since 1975, the company has been on Frederick Road, a heavily traveled thoroughfare that originates as Wisconsin Ave. in the District of Columbia. “People have heard of us because they see us,” says Chip, adding that the excellent location and consumer awareness enables the company to minimize its marketing budget.

Last year, the Scuderi brothers made a decision they hope will take their business to the next level. They joined CARSTAR—a group of 300 body shops working together with the goal of bringing a higher level of professionalism to the industry and to enable the insurance industry to work with them as a united entity. Chip sees the affiliation with CARSTAR as a vision for the future. “Shops are starting to pull together in going to insurance companies and saying, ‘Here is key indicator information on our shops,’” he says. Such information ultimately may lead to the CARSTAR members’ inclusion in an insurance company’s direct repair program.

Every employee at Scuderi CARSTAR Auto Body went through online training as part of the new affiliation. Chip and General Manager John Greene also attended instructor-led training. In addition, CARSTAR provides a consultant whom the Scuderis can call when they have a question about their business. 

“You get out of it what you put in,” says Chip, noting that volume discounts on purchases help to offset what his company pays to belong to the group. He advises other body shops to join the group if they are willing to learn new things and to change, but not if they view the group solely as a means of getting new business. Scuderi’s shop already has changed some processes as a result of the affiliation and has upgraded its image a bit. “We were OK before, but this gives employees the feeling of a more professional business and a vision for the future,” Chip says.

Scuderi CARSTAR currently gets about 50 percent of its business through DRP programs and hopes to gain some new programs as a result of the CARSTAR affiliation. But Chip also wants to avoid becoming too dependent on any single program. Currently, no single DRP program generates more than 15 percent of the shop’s revenues.

Ensuring compliance with various DRP programs is one of the shop’s biggest challenges, Chip says. But that task has been made easier by a compliance tool that the company has begun to use. “It’s like having a person looking over your shoulder,” Chip says.

Mark Scuderi has been less involved with the shop than his brother for the last few years because his efforts to make the shop more environmentally friendly lead him into a new line of business—Bonny Marlin, an environmentally safe paint cleaning method for body shops (see sidebar). But together, the two brothers continue to set the direction for both Bonny Marlin and Scuderi CARSTAR—and have found some synergies between the two businesses.